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INTERNET PRIVACY:IS INTERNET PRIVACY DEAD, OR IS IT STILL POSSIBLE TO PROTECT YOURSELF?

By: Matthew Momney

ADVANCING TECHNOLOGY

With internet advancing as fast as it is, and the complexity of the tools to use it ever-growing, it is possible for the everyday user to maintain their own security on the web? How far does one have to delve into the underbelly of the world wide web to obtain the privacy they both want and deserve? The abusive capabilities that today’s browsers have and the speed at which they can be used is astounding.

THE POTENTIAL RISKS

The main issue with maintaining privacy on the internet is the fact that there are a number of different ways to access the information necessary to abuse or cause harm to an internet user.

Whether it’s obtaining statistics and browsing information, or spreading spyware and viruses, the techniques available are almost effortless and do not take much experience to use.

SOCIAL MEDIA

One of the most common outlets for information about a user is using social media. These websites provide valuable information at the user’s own expense without necessarily meaning to.

Privacy settings are often secondary and take some navigating to locate. Sites like Facebook.com for example have your privacy set to open as a default for new users. They do prompt you to set privacy settings, but operate them separately for each piece of content. You may have your main profile page set to be viewed by only people you have accepted as friends, however your profile pictures could be viewable.

FACE RECOGNIZERS

The frightening thing about social media sites being open about sharing information is the ability to use face recognizers to match your face with that of the pictures on your profiles.

Experts were able to prove they could come up with social insurance numbers with just a web cam, a face recognizer, and an internet connection. Simple tasks that anyone with the tools can accomplish.

FACE RECOGNIZERS CONT’D

With this same technology identity thieves are using, legitimately run companies are gathering statistical information about their customers.

By using the faces captured on their surveillance cameras and matching them to social media profiles, their personal information can be gathered and analyzed to better grasp their target audience.

PUBLIC PHOTOGRAPHSAlways an eerie thought is someone taking your photograph without

you knowing. Even more creepy is the fact that it’s not against the law in any way if you’re in a public place.

Anyone has the freedom to capture your face in anyway and alter the photo however they deem fit to post on the internet, and are only forced to remove the image from where they posted it if compliance is not received from the person in the photograph.

Even after the photograph is removed, it can be a lengthy process with legal action to force the abuser to stop or international laws depending on where they are located. By that time the damage that the photograph can cause has already been done, and there’s no way to change the results.

HTTP COOKIES

The average user may know the browsers store them on their computer, but most do not know how HTTP cookies work. An HTTP cookie is a small piece of data sent from a website and stored on a user’s computer when they access said website.

Unknowingly to the average internet user, cookies are very useful in tracking the user’s movements on the website, how frequently they view the pages, which pages they view the most, etc.

HTTP COOKIES CONT’D

The cookies are established to make internet browsing fast and enjoyable, by decreasing the time it would take to load a page you’ve previously been on, but there are malicious ways to abuse them.

Tracking cookies allow web profiling, where the user’s browser history is obtained allowing them to get more personal information on the user who visited the websites.

GOVERNMENT CONTROL

When referring to government control, an overall access and censorship of the internet by the government to standards they deem fit.

This method of censorship is used by the Chinese Government to restrict the internet users of their country from uploading any content they see as negative towards their country.

The same type of idea was almost implemented in the United States with the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) which was introduced to stop copyright infringement, but in the end would eliminate all of the user uploaded content and freedom the internet has to offer.

STEPS TO SECURE YOURSELF:

PasswordsSecuring your website accounts with strong

passwords that would be difficult to guess or decode. Include capital and small caps, numbers, and even characters when available.

Choose different passwords for each account so the security of each is just as tight. If one password is figured out, you would not want them to then be able to access all of your accounts.

STEPS TO SECURE YOURSELF:

Virus ProtectionIt is paramount that you run a virus protection

service on your computer. There are so many doorways viruses can come though, and it is not worth the risk not to be safe while connected to the internet.

Many users have virus protection either preinstalled on the machine or purchased, but don’t run the automatic updates. Viruses are developed and updated just as fast as the virus protection software, so it is vital to maintain up-to-date protection software.

STEPS TO SECURE YOURSELF:

Google YourselfIt sounds strange, but a simple google search of

yourself to see what results come up is a good way to monitor your own privacy.

There are ways to go about asking google to remove content from their search engine if you find it inappropriate or slanderous such as emails or forms in their privacy section of their site.

STEPS TO SECURE YOURSELF:

Limit the Content You ShareIt might seem redundant to say, but be careful

what content you share on the internet. Information is the key to everything online, and one piece can lead to a treasure trove of your own personal identity.

Keep your social media profiles tidy. Sweep the bad stuff under the rug so to speak and push the content out of sight with a flood of posts if they’re not possible to remove.

ONLINE PROTECTION VIDEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daF-_Q9lfg0

The video plays in slideshow mode

OVERALL

It is not impossible to protect yourself from the malicious content on the internet, but it does take some time and effort. Reading privacy policies, checking privacy settings, and keeping an eye on what content comes up in search engines about you.

The best protection is not allowing anything at all, but limiting the amount of information you share, or using only one credit card for example will provide better control if anything does go wrong.

Privacy is not dead, but you do have to bury your head in the ground to stay safe.

DISCUSSION QUESTION

What do you think? Is internet privacy dead or is it still possible to protect yourself?

THANK YOU!

Sources:

• Steve Rambam, Privacy is Dead, Get Over It, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaYn_PkrfvQ

• Privacy issues of Social networking sites – http://www.isaca.org/Groups/Professional-English/security-trend/GroupDocuments/Social-Media-Wh-Paper-26-May10-Research.pdf

• Discovered the article: Online photos can reveal our private data say experts - BBC NEWS - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14386514

• Linked to from BBC NEWS: More Than Facial Recognition - Carnegie Mellon University - http://www.cmu.edu/homepage/society/2011/summer/facial-recognition.shtml